Clothes-line hanger.



J! .T. FOSS.

CLOTHES LINE HANGER.

APPLICATION TILED JAN. 8, 1912.

2 SHEETSSHEBT 1.

Patented July 16, 1912.

Patentefl July 16, 1912.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

INVENT L O j (fo -4,4

U 1 cf% ATTORNEY- JOHN J. FOSS, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

CLOTHES-LINE HANGER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patent ed. Jul is, rare.

Application filed January 8, 1912. Serial No. 669,973.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN J. Foss, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Cleveland, county of Cuyahoga, and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Clothesliine I-iai'igers, oi which the following is a specification, the principle of the invention. being herein eitplained and the best mode in which I have contemplated applying that principle, so as to distinguish it from other inventions.

The present invention relates toa device for holding clothes and may be simply and easily applied to supports of various forms. In my device, a plurality of lines are used. and parallel to each line I provide a second line bearing clothes-retaining means which may be used for clamping the clothes upon the first-named lines. When not in use, the clothes-lines may be removed from one of the supports and will then be wound up and retained at a single support, thus clearing the intervening space.

To the accomplishment of these and related ends, said invention, then, consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claim.

The annexed drawings and the following description set forth in detail certain mech. anism embodying my invention, such dis.- closed means constituting, however, but one of the various mechanical forms in which the principle of the invention may be used.

In said annexed drawings :Figure 1 is a plan view of two supports and of the lines extending between the same; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the support which bears the lines when not in use; Fig. 3 is a sideelevation of the same; Fig. 4: is a View in perspective of the member upon which the clothes-pin bearing lines willbe retained; Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of the winding means showing the method of attachment of the cable thereto; Figs. 6 and 7 are views in perspective of details of construction; and Fig. 8 is a view in perspective of a clothes-pin adapted to be carried by one of the lines.

In Fig. 1 are shown two supports 1 upon which are mounted cross pieces 2, by means of the brackets 3. Braces 4; may be used, if desired, for the purpose of giving increased stability to the construction. A casing 5 is attached to the support 1 by means of lugs 6, and rotatably mounted in this casing are winding means 7 comprising a disks 9.

rotatable drum 8 upon which are n'iounted In the central. disk I provide a slot 10. Upon this rot-atal'ile drum I attach the two ends of a cable 11, and in the slot 10 I attach the middle oi the cable, thus providing two loops of two lines each. These lines 12 will extend upwardly from the winding means and. will pass through pulleys 13 which will be inclined toward the winding means and will be rotatably mount ed in brackets let upon the cross piece 2. From these pulleys the lines will extend to the other cross piece upon the second sup port, where they will be held in. other pulleys 13 mounted-in open b s 15. The construction of the bracke is clearly shown in Fig. '4', and it will. be evident that the lines may be removed gagement with these pulleys by stacking the same and slipping them over the end 16 of the bracket, when they may wound up. Upon the rotatable drum there is mounted a handle 17, and in the outer casing around the drum there are apertures 18 into which a pin 30 may be inserted for the purpose of retaining the drum in various desired positions. It will, of course, be possible to secure a greater or less number of loops, as desired, by merely increasing the length of the cable and connecting the same at several points intermediate of its ends in slots such as the one 10 already described upon the central'disk.

Means have been provided for retaining the clothes upon the lines, and comprise a rotatable member 19 which is removably mounted in hooks or cars 20 attached to the cross piece. The construction of this rotatable member is more clearly shown in Fig. 4, in which it will be seen that at either end I provide loops 21 upon which the pin bearing lines may be wound. The pin bearing lines 27 will be attached at their other ends to a rod 28 which is removably held in hooks 20 mounted upon the cross 'piece at the right in Fig. 1. In the center of the member 19 there will be cranks 22 for the purpose of rotating this member.

Guide means 23 are also provided' for thepurpose of guiding the cable to be wound, and also to prevent the clothes-retaining means, here shown as the familiar clothespin 24:, from being Wound upon the loops 21. The clothes-pins 24 will each be provided with an aperture 25, which will be engaged by the pin bearing lines 27, such from their cnl engagement being sufliciently loose perl Theadvantages of my device are numermit the pins toshde easily on the lines.

Theoperation of my device will be readily apparent. Assume the lines to be in the osition shown in Fig. 1 ready to be taken own.- The lines 1-2 are slacked by removing the pin .30 from the aperture which it is engaging in the casing 5, thereby permitting the drum tovbe rotated and the lines to be slightly unwound. When slacked i these lines may be'removed from the pulleys 13 in the brackets 15 over the open ends 16. The winding means are then operated by the handle 17 and the lines are wound up'until the loops are tautover the inclined pulleys 13. The pin may then be used to retain the handle in position thus preventing unwinding. The pin bearing lines 27 W111 next be taken down, which is accomplished byremoving the rod 28 from the hooks 20 and rotating the crank 22 until the lines are as completely wound. upon the member 19 tional mechanism.

as the clothes pins will permit. The latter will slide along the lines until they are held contacting each other between the rod 27 and the guides 23, the latter members being inclined to the vertical in order to prevent the pins from passing through them, such inclination being best illustrated inFig. 4. When the clothes bearing lines are thus Wound up, the rotatable member 19 may be removed from the hooks and the member, rod, pins and line stored to prevent the destructive action of the weather on the wooden pins and, line. No specific means for tensioning the lines 27 are shown, as it is intended to so limit the length of these lines that they must be slightly stretched to reach between the supports thus tensioning them without the necessity for addious. It may be easily and conveniently operated.- It is comparatively inex ensive' to manufacture by reason of its simp icity and the use of so many standard parts. It r0- vides simple means for holding the clot espins where they can be most easily reached and operated. By attaching the pins to cables the loss of such' articles is entirely eliminated. Furthermore, when not is use, my device can be so taken down and protected that no unnecessary depreciation due to exposure to the elements will take place.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may e employed instead of the one explained 'change eing made as regards the mechanism herein disclosed, provided the means stated by the following claim or the equivalent of such stated means 6 be employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctlyclaim' as my inventioi1:

The combination with two spaced supports; a crosspiece mounted on'one of said 65 supports; a plurality of pulleys rotatably mounted onsaid crosspiece; winding means mounted on the other support; a cable having itsends attached to said means and be.

ing connected thereto intermediate its ends, v

thereby giving a plurality of lines, said lines being detachably connected with such pulleys on said crosspiece whereby rotation of said winding means produces equal efiect on each of said lines.

V Signed by me this 4th day of January, 1912. v

JOHN J. FOSS.

Attested by D. T. DAVIES, ANNA L. GILL. 

